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Tuesday, October 7, 2014

TV Recap: Castle 7-2 - Montreal

There was still a pall hanging over last night’s episode.  They were working on getting the old magic back, but it wasn’t quite there yet.  Fortunately, the characters knew it, too, so I think the writers were doing it on purpose.

Of course, since Castle was pursuing his own sub-plot in a lot of ways, that cut down a little on the quips and fun.  I’m not saying it was a bad episode, just that it wasn’t quite a normal episode.

We do have a murder mystery of the week – a body in the river.  This body turns out to be the CEO of a toy company.  His wife had reported him missing on Friday when he didn’t return home from the movies.  He’s been working late and under a lot of stress – at least according to his wife.  This stress started when their dog died.  The VP at the toy company and the victim’s assistant both say that he’s been leaving work early.  And on his time off, there is no trail at all.  No phone calls, no credit charges.  Nothing.

The detectives find a set of keys in the false bottom of his drawer.  And they get a trail to the name of a woman.  Classic signs of an affair, right?  They show up at the woman’s apartment to find her with her throat slashed on her bed.

And then she moves.

Turns out she is a makeup artist and the CEO had come to her for help turning into an old man.  When they start circulating that picture, they get a trail to an apartment he’d rented with a dog inside.  He also regularly bought food from a Chinese place six subway stops from this second apartment.

That restaurant is just down the street from one of his company’s toy warehouses.  When they show the picture to the employees, they recognize him as the new janitor – the janitor who had been snooping around through invoices.

At this point, I knew what was going on, but it took the dog reacting to a cop bringing in drugs from a bust for our characters to know.  Suddenly, Castle has a wild theory that actually makes sense – the CEO was trying to prove that drugs were being smuggled through his company.  In fact, his dog had accidentally overdosed, and that’s how he’d found out.  But someone else figured out why he was snooping and killed him for it.

And the killer is?  The CEO’s assistant who is the mastermind behind the entire drug ring.

Meanwhile, Castle is determined to figure out what happened to him.  During a TV interview where the interviewer seems certain he just “disappeared” for the publicity, Castle offers a $250K reward to anyone with proof showing where he was for the last two months.  He gives out the precinct’s number, which does not make Gates happy, but the calls do start coming in.

They are bogus, including the one from the guy who tracks down Castle’s private line.  That guy says he was held with Castle, which gets Castle excited until Castle realizes this man thinks they were both kidnapped by aliens.  (And I love the fact that this is a theory Castle would love to spin until he is the subject of the mystery.)

However, one couple does come forward with real evidence.  They’d been on their honeymoon, and the groom had snapped a picture of the bride with Castle and the mystery man from the trailer in it.  They were talking on the steps of a bank in Montreal.  Alexis wonders if the key sown into Castle’s clothes came from that bank’s safety deposit box.  Figuring that’s as good place to look, Castle and Alexis head up there and manage to check out the box.  It opens, and they find three envelops inside, one each for Beckett, Martha, and Alexis.  Each contains a memory card that is essentially Castle saying goodbye if something had happened to him.

Castle and Alexis return home, but the digital media expert with the police is able to get an outline of some buildings in the window behind Castle from the videos.  They even manage to get a match to a specific address in Montreal, and Castle heads up there alone.

Once in the room, he is confronted by the man from the trailer.  He tells Castle to leave it alone, that Castle had asked them to erase his memory.  And as proof, he hints at an event when Castle was 11 that he has tone no one else.  This event, hinted at only, is why Castle became a mystery writer.  Castle believes him and leaves, but he is still shaken as to what this means and what he might have done or been a part of.

Back home, Beckett does her best to comfort Castle about this latest mystery.  Castle is ready to get married the next morning, but Beckett isn’t.  They need time to get over this before they marry, but she does still want to marry him.  (And I absolutely agree with her on this matter.)  They will revisit the subject in a month.  Hm, can we say November sweeps anyone?

When the subject of why Castle became a mystery writer was mentioned, I flashed back to season one where Beckett asked him that question and he made up a story.  Interestingly, it was from his childhood.  I wonder if they will go that way or not.

And I am also taking it as a personal shout out that the safety deposit box was #38 since I use carstairs38 as my internet log in lots of places, including Twitter where I link up my recaps and tag official Castle accounts.  (Don’t even consider pointing out any flaws in this.  I can’t hear you, I can’t hear you!!!)

I was glad they didn’t follow their normal pattern of forgetting any ongoing story for episodes at a time.  It’s nice to at least get the next piece of the puzzle.  I don’t expect a true resolution any time soon, and I expect not to get another clue for a few weeks yet, but I’m glad we got more.

As I said at the beginning, the show still feels a little off because of this huge mystery surrounding Castle.  Hopefully, they can get the chemistry back realistically soon.  I do like how they aren’t rushing things yet, however.  It feels realistic to me.

There was some fun along the way, like Castle and the toys at the beginning of the episode and the giant keyboard at the end.  That leads me to believe that we will get the right mix back as the characters get back to normal themselves.

What did you think of this episode?  Hit me up with your thoughts and any theories on what happened to Castle in the comments.

5 comments:

  1. I was happier with this episode than last week. I didn't expect to get all the answers, but I was glad we got a few of them. I wasn't even bothered that those answers led to more questions.
    It is good that Kate saw that video. I think that relieved the last of her doubts that he was trying to leave her. Yes she still has questions about what happened to him and all that, but she knows he wasn't leaving her. So that is very good.
    I do not trust what that guy told Rick. Maybe a little hint of truth in there, but I don't fully believe what he said. He lied last week, so he could still be lying. If he was telling the truth, it seems like they - he and whoever else is mixed up in this - could have come up with something better than they did with the staged tent and the stuff pointing to Rick being behind it all. I have all sorts of wild ideas, none of which will probably be anywhere near right. lol
    I don't think Rick will give up on finding answers. He might let it be for a little while, but he will want answers.

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    1. I think if they hadn't given us a few, they would have lost lots of viewers. This isn't like Beckett's mother's murder with happened years before, so we are going to be more invested in the show.

      Good point about the guy not being trustworthy. Hadn't thought of that, although he did know this story from Castle's past, which is obviously true...

      I'm sure overall this will be like other stories on the show where we get a few episodes devoted to it every year but mostly get case of the week stuff.

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    2. Oh I know that Fake Jenkins guy did know the story from Rick's past. I'm just wondering if Rick willingly shared the story like Fake Jenkins claimed. Some kind of drugs or hypnosis could have been involved. Or maybe Rick shared that story/memory as a clue to his future self before the memory wipe thing happened. Like didn't have much of a choice - forget the last 2 months or never go home again type of choice. So maybe Rick, knowing himself and that he would get to looking for answers, used that story/memory as a clue to indicate to himself that whoever brings this up is not to be trusted. Or I could be completely wrong. lol
      Least I am happier about things now. I haven't forgotten the finale from last season, but I'm not as ..irked as I was.

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  2. I ended up watching the two new episodes pretty close together because of scheduling so I wasn't as upset with episode #1 as others were. I just felt like they were setting up the season for us.

    I did like Episode #2 much better though. I felt like we were getting a taste of the Castle we know and love - especially with those toys.

    I agree - a wedding (maybe quiet and simple this time) would be good for November sweeps.

    Again, I pretty much nailed the suspect as either the CEO or the assistant - after all, they were pretty much the first people interviewed ;)

    Overall I liked the episode and liked that Alexia figured more prominently in it. Liked that Mom is dating someone from grief counseling who thinks Castle is still dead or missing - gotta love her!

    Overall I feel that something is missing from the shows this Season and hope we get it back. I do not want to be right in thinking that maybe the show just should have ended last Season with the wedding.

    By the way, have you watched the new show on Thursdays called Gracepoint? I have and found it very interesting in a creepy kind of way.

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    1. I thought of you when the killer was revealed. You were right on the formula yet again.

      I think what we feel is missing is the relationships between the characters. And they haven't been solid yet because of the lingering doubts about Castle's disappearance. I think the writers have been writing this way on purpose, and I think we will get back to the show we know and love soon. This is just a stage the characters have to go through, and I think I'd also feel cheated if the writers didn't acknowledge it.

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